Man who stole police equipment sentenced

EDWARDSVILLE - A would-be confidential drug informant who made away with Alton Police Department cash and equipment was sentenced to four years in prison Friday on three felony charges.

William S. Cole, 27, of the 1100 block of East Fifth Street, Alton, pleaded guilty in Madison County Circuit Court to possession of a look-alike substance with intent to distribute, theft over $10,000 and criminal damage to property.

Cole was in the Madison County Jail in Edwardsville on June 22 after police found what looked like heroin in a car he had been driving. Police found the substance after a crash in which the car Cole was driving ran into a fixed object.

While in the County Jail, Cole told authorities he was willing to be a confidential informant in a drug sting, a common method of tracking down and charging drug dealers.

Cole was set up with recording equipment and given $400 in marked bills June 25, but instead of sticking to the plan, Cole fled, ditching the equipment along the side of a road, but keeping the cash.

By June 26, police tracked him down and arrested him again. He went back to the Madison County Jail.

Meanwhile, tests on the substance found in the car Cole had been driving in the initial incident came back negative for drugs, so he was charged with the look-alike substance count.

The criminal damage to property charge was lodged because of the damage done to the expensive equipment when Cole tossed it to the side of the road as he fled.